The fast development of digital information technology, combined with the simplicity of duplicating and distributing data across communications networks such as the Internet, has exposed content providers to a real challenge of protecting their content. This challenge has resulted in research and development of sophisticated watermarking and information-hiding methodologies.
Hardcopy watermarking involves modifying a digital image such that secret information is embedded in a hardcopy (e.g., a printed version) of the digital image. The secret information might be information about the image, information about the owner of the image, anti-counterfeit information, etc. The secret information is not visible or it is perceived as noise. However, the secret information can be detected by converting the hardcopy back to a digital image, and decoding the digital image.
Design parameters for hardcopy watermarking include robustness of decoding in view of image quality degradation inflicted by printing, scanning, and other affects (e.g., cropping, misalignment, stains and scratches); visual quality of the hardcopy; and coding rate. The coding ratexe2x80x94the relative amount of secret information that can be reliably embedded in the digital imagexe2x80x94typically involves a tradeoff with visual quality and robustness. A higher coding rate allows more information to be embedded in the image, but tends to reduce the visual quality of the image and robustness in decoding the message. Conversely, a lower coding rate tends to provide less information, but the image has a higher visual quality and the decoding is more robust. It would be desirable to perform hardcopy watermarking that is robust, has a high coding rate and does not degrade the visual quality of the hardcopy.
Decoding the watermarked image typically requires access to the original image. In some instances, however, the original image is not available. In other instances, it might be desirable to perform the decoding without access to the original image.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a digital image is hardcopy watermarked by modifying transform coefficients in a transform domain representation of the digital image, the transform coefficients being modified according to bit values of a message. According to another aspect of the present invention, a message in a hardcopy watermarked image is identified by statistically decoding a transform domain representation of the watermarked image. Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the present invention.